Iftar at the Ambassador's Residence

Hi Everyone,

Very fascinating evening at the residence of "His Excellency Gene Cretz, the Ambassador of the United States of America", full title he was referred to as last night. The Iftar celebrates the end of the fast every day, and follows a time of prayer each evening. Fast is broken traditionally with milk and dates first, then prayer follows for every Muslim, then a large meal after that. The Ambassador spoke first, in English, then in Arabic for all of the Libyan guests, then an older Libyan man spoke, fluently in English, then a recording of President Obama was played !! Every speaker repeated the desire that Americans and Libyans learn to understand one another, and respect each other. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for me. Rick recorded the recitation of a portion of the Quran, sung by a young man with a beautiful voice, and we did take some pictures, so we'll post those at a later date. Rick had his picture taken with the ambassador also, exciting !! Another late night as the end of Ramadan is approaching. They have two more days of fasting, and at sundown tomorrow, Ramadan will be over !! Every Libyan is looking forward to the Eid celebration which begins on Saturday. Rick and I will, however, be enjoying our week in Paris, so I will try to blog while I am there. Much love to each of you, I miss you, Lynn